Alright guys I need some advice. I have what was once a beautiful 2001 CL-S (NBP). I never appreciated the car I had and haven't taken care of it like I should have from the beginning.

Lately I've been realizing that I want to keep this car for a long time and have decided to try and bring it back to some of its original luster.

There are numerous dings and (small) dents in the car and the paint is a mess with swirl marks.

My OEM rims also have a lot of curb rash (some from the previoius owner and some from me).

I don't have a lot of money, but my first two goals are bodywork/new paint job and new rims.

First, what are my options on getting the car painted? I want a quality job that matches or rivals the factory paint job but I don't want to spend a fortune either. Ideally I'd like to have someone do the minor body touchups and paint all at once. What are my options with pricing?

As for the rims, I really like the OEMs but I know they are expensive so I was thinking of having them refinished. Is this possible and is it expensive?

Also, while I decide on the paint job I wanted to zaino my car but live in an apartment and it would be impossible to wash and wax my car. Any places that will detail my car and use zaino or something similar?

BTW, I am in Irvine but am willing to travel a little. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help.

 

As for the rims, when I bought the car the wheels had huge chunks of wheel missing and quite a lot of curb rash from the previous owner and as a deal for the sale, I had carmax have them refinished. I later asked carmax how much it would cost for my friends 350z which he curbed up a little bit and my service tech says they outsoure to a local shop and it would cost flat fee of $170 a wheel. My wheels were perfect after they were refinished, if I didn't know better I would have thought they were new.

 

Thanks.....so basically if I can get some nice used wheels for less than $170/wheel I should go for it.

 

I don't think you really need a new paint job. How bad can it be? swirl marks will buff right out. Just use some kind of good swirl remover or something search in the wash wax section to see what you find. As for the door dings and dents a goof body shop can take them out with out painting the car.

 

IF U ARE NOT PLANNING ON SPENDING A LOT, A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLAR PAINT JOB WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE AND WITH L.A SUN U WILL HAVE IT FADE WITHIN FEW MONTHS. GOOD P JOB IS ABOUT 2K. OEM WHEELS : CHECK LAWHEELS.COM THEY REFURBISH DO CHROME AND DIFFERENT FINISH WHATEVER U WANT, I BELIEVE THEY R IN VAN NUYS OR STH

 

How is the Maintanance on the engine???
invest on a a tune-up! start inside first... then work on the outer part of the car

 

for the ext. Try detailing with quality wax like zaino to take out the swirels and to put a protective coating on the car. For the wheels, get on ebay, and pick up some used CL rims or even the black market here.

 

Since you said you neglected the car, It may be worth it to just trade it for soemthing else you can take care of from the start. I mean your looking at over $2K for ding/dent removal, plus paint work.
What shape is the interior & engine in? Change oil like you should? Change the air filter? Change the AC filter, tranny flushes? How many trannys you on? What's the milage on the car?
You have to ask yourself these questions? And then need to decide if it's best for you to drop $$ into this car or get another.

 

See that's the thing, I've take great care of the car in terms of the regular maintenance and the interior. The car has about 80k miles but runs great and I've had no problems...still on the original tranny.

I'm probably exaggerating when I say that I've neglected the car, I really mean that compared with the way most on this forum treat their cars I don't really stack up.

I'm only trying to figure out what my options are in terms of the dings and dents and the paint.

Thanks for the response.

 

Trust me that when I say I don't want to spend a lot on a paint job I do not mean I'm going to spend a couple hundred bucks.

I'll check out LA Wheels.

 

For rims, I see them on Ebay all the time & the black market here.
For the paint, get some 3M products & a buffer & spend a few weekends preping the paint.
Then keep it looking great with Zaino.
For the dings find a paintless dent removal place. You'd be suprised what these places can get out.
You should be able to get all this for well under $1K.
A repaint is likey not needed.
If you can't do it at your apt, go to a friends or families house. Give them some beer or something for the use of the time.

 

how many miles do you have

 

Around 80K.